Surfing Waves

On occasion I'll start paddling in front of a wave, getting ready to mount it, and as soon as the wave starts to lift the board and I am about to stand up, the nose of my board digs into the water and I eat crap. Typically I am able to bail off to the side or back of the board, but if the wave is large/ fast enough it will throw me right over the front of the board and I'll get the washing machine in the wave.

So I thought I was probably too far forward on the board. However, I am not sure that's the case. I am on a 9'6" longboard and I am 5'8" tall. My heals are always within 12" of the back of the board, and more commonly more like 6-9" from the back. I feel as if I were any further back on the board I would be too far back. Thus, I am wondering if it's something else like I am not going fast enough when the wave hits me or maybe I am at a slight angle instead of perpendicular with the wave.

It's called nose diving or perling. Do a search on the forum for those terms and you will find a few previous discussions. Short answer you are paddling too slow. Bonus answer: moving further back is exactly the wrong response

Have a read and come back with any further questions

audiobahn1000 wrote: as soon as the wave starts to lift the board and I am about to stand up, the nose of my board digs into the water and I eat crap.

1) How do you know the nose is digging into the water ?
2) Between the nose digging and you eating crap, what is your body doing ? back, arms, hands, etc.

audiobahn1000 wrote:On occasion I'll start paddling in front of a wave, getting ready to mount it, and as soon as the wave starts to lift the board and I am about to stand up, the nose of my board digs into the water and I eat crap. Typically I am able to bail off to the side or back of the board, but if the wave is large/ fast enough it will throw me right over the front of the board and I'll get the washing machine in the wave.

So I thought I was probably too far forward on the board. However, I am not sure that's the case. I am on a 9'6" longboard and I am 5'8" tall. My heals are always within 12" of the back of the board, and more commonly more like 6-9" from the back. I feel as if I were any further back on the board I would be too far back. Thus, I am wondering if it's something else like I am not going fast enough when the wave hits me or maybe I am at a slight angle instead of perpendicular with the wave.

You post offers so much that you need to learn.

First and foremost for everyone's safety, DO NOT bail your board, take the wipe out! Bailing makes your board an out of control projectile, you will injure someone.
From your post you appear to be doing white water take offs, letting the wave catch you, "when the wave hits me", you need to paddle so your speed matches the speed of the approaching white water ( lessens the hit, speed - control ). You are too far back on you board without speed, the back of the board is lifted by the wave. This problem will accentuated on green waves. Read through all the advice about pearling or nose diving it is a problem we all worked through.

So I read through a fair amount of stuff on Google and it seems there is a lot of conflicting info. First, everything I have read says speed is your friend, which I figured. I usually paddle pretty hard before the wave hits me, and I start well in advance (probably to far in advance--sometimes 10+ strokes out). I wait until I feel the wave the hit the back of the board and I give two hard double arm paddles and then stand up, so I sort of feel like I would really have to focus to go any faster as I am already paddling pretty hard and far in advance. When I nose dive, it's typically right after I finished the last paddle stroke and I am about to pop up.

The conflicting info I get is where to be on the board. Tons of sources say to move further back, even to the point that your feet are past the deck plug, and other sources say to go further forward. So it's not clear which I should do. I've tried both and so far moving back seems to work better than moving forward, but it's hard to tell as the nose dives seem pretty random. I probably surf a bit more in the white water than the green, but I've tried both. I've mostly been practicing in 2-3's, which more or less feel the same in terms of difficulty between white and green.

1) I know the nose is digging in because I can see it. I look behind me to see where the wave is and where other people are, but as soon as the wave is within 10' of me I look forward and can easily see what the board is doing.

2) When I start nose diving my arms are usually in the push-up position next to my shoulders as I am about to pop up, or at worst they are finishing the very last stroke. Not sure what my back is doing, I'd have to have someone look, but I assume it's fairly straight as I am laying down on the board flat getting ready to pop up.

You need to lean back to turn....maybe that is the issue.

I suspect you're probably too slow in your popup or your paddling or both. In my experience on a longboard, you don't want to be at the top of the wave popping up just as the lip is plunging. You want to be popped up and in a riding stance a little before the lip plunges. It takes practice to get the timing right. Every wave is different of course, not to mention the rocker of the surfboard, but I find that late takeoffs on steeper waves are difficult with a longboard. If you're taking off late on a steep 4 foot wave and you're riding a 10 foot board, the extra 6 feet of your board is going to slap down in front of your 4 foot wave and you'll likely perl.

Big H wrote:You need to lean back to turn....maybe that is the issue.

Expanding on this, as you make the last paddles before popping up, arch your back and and keep your head up. Look at a distant object rather than the nose of your board. This will reduce just enough weight from the the nose to keep it above water.

Surfer Babe arch


Surf Simply Video

paddle faster (do NOT do two double hand stokes), rather continue your alternating arm paddle but paddle harder, arch your back and pop up sooner. When I was learning, I was told if you are pearling, you missed your chance to pop up. Basically its a feel thing, one learns when to pop up by the feeling. You have not learned what it feels like as to when you should be popping up. My advice is to stop with the double hand strokes and pop up sooner. If you pop up and the wave passes you by then you were too soon, if you pearl, you are too late. You pop up in between those 2 feelings. Practice, paddle harder, arch your back, pop up. Eventually you will get it.

I've recently overcome a similar problem as I am pretty new to this as well. Not sure if this is your mistake but I thought I would offer it as a suggestion.

You may be trying to catch waves in the impact zone. Maybe you have spent some time in the whitewater, figuring out how to get to your feet, and now you want to try some bigger waves so you go out a bit further, where the waves are breaking, or have just broken. This is a bad spot to catch anything and can be dangerous too.

In this zone, the wave has jacked up and is throwing the lip, that may be what driving your nose into the water (your back end getting violently heaved upwards).

If this is the case, get further out back. It's safer out there and you can rest and watch waves roll by, thus getting a feel for them (timing, size, speed). Watch where others get into their waves and learn.

Surf Hound wrote: When I was learning, I was told if you are pearling, you missed your chance to pop up.

That's an excellent piece of advice. I have never taken surfing lessons, but getting a piece of knowledge like that early on would definitely make me feel it was money well spent.

Watch the video BoMan put up. It explains it really well.

Also go through Alot of my posts as it was not long ago I was going through the same problem.

audiobahn1000 wrote:So I read through a fair amount of stuff on Google and it seems there is a lot of conflicting info.

You ever heard the saying "Too many cooks spoil the pot" ? You keep looking for answers from so many places you're just going to get more and more confused. This forum has a lot of good info ( and a lot less trolling and idiots ). But even on here there's conflicting advice. Why ? Because we all are different. Body types, age, experience, locations, dexterity, determination, etc.
Oh and there's another saying, " If it's on the internet it must be true". How do you know what I'm saying is good or bad ? Maybe I'm just some Cat-Fishing poser hiding behind a computer screen.

Surfer Babe arch


BTW....this was appreciated Bo!

Big H wrote:Surfer Babe arch


BTW....this was appreciated Bo!

That's Boman's surfboard caddy.

jaffa1949 wrote:

audiobahn1000 wrote:First and foremost for everyone's safety, DO NOT bail your board, take the wipe out! Bailing makes your board an out of control projectile, you will injure someone.

As someone who has been surfing at a relatively uncrowded spot... I've never really given that stuff much thought. Everyone has their own little area. However, it seems like a good practice to get into... When I mess up I usually try to jump to the side/back in order to make the leash as tight as possible. I figured this would be the best way to keep the board from lurching forward too much. Apparently not the correct action to take... good thing I've been on a soft top ^^

Of course, that's only when I have the ability to fall back... sometimes falling just takes its own course haha.

I understand not bailing your board when you have a choice (like paddling out), but when you fall how do you avoid it?

Bailing in the surf is jumping off your board rather than being hit for a wipeout, bailing is jumping off your board whilst paddling out not duck diving or turtle rolling, the projectile from the end of your foot = board length + leash and stretch arcing out in some direction consider the weight of the board the blunt edges then consider seriously the sharp and pointed bits, fins, fin tips and nose, they all fit neatly into an eye socket.

Unless the surf is ridiculously crowded most wipeouts puts boards in a relatively safe zone, bailing doesn't.
A rail grab if manage in a wipeout adds even more control, often to avoid a collision I have chosen to take a controled wipeout.or a Hawaiian pullout.

audiobahn1000 wrote:So I read through a fair amount of stuff on Google and it seems there is a lot of conflicting info. .

First thing to do is make sure you are starting from the right starting point

Lie on your board in flat water in your paddle position (not too arched, just slight arch). Shuffle up and down the board until the nose is about 1 inch above the surface of the water. This might seem too far forward, but its not. This is your basic starting position. Depending on the wave you might need to move slightly forward (fatter waves) or slightly back (steeper waves), but this is your starting position. Remember where the position is (eg where the makers logo is relative to your nose or something. Personally I like marking the spot with my fingernail in the wax but others hate that because it can make you too dependent on being right on the mark rather than it being your guide but not your fixed point).

Now start paddling for waves.